Why Christians shouldn’t be ashamed of Slavery in the Bible

Many Christians wish this issue would just go away. Atheists and other Non-Christians often bring up the topic of slavery in the Bible as a way to discredit the Bible as the inspired Word of God. Even some who claim to profess faith in Jesus Christ use slavery in the Bible as a way to discredit Biblical commands regarding gender roles. How can we as Christians believe that slavery in America was immoral but at the same time defend slavery in the Bible? Isn’t this a huge a contradiction?

The typical response that most Christians give about slavery in the Bible

“Well God overlooked many sinful activities in ancient society like polygamy and slavery, but these were not his perfect will. Later in the New Testament he told Christians not to practice slavery and polygamy anymore.”

Even though this post is about slavery, I include polygamy in the above statement because usually these two issues are used together to attack the morality of Christianity. I won’t be dealing with Biblical polygamy here but I have written an entire series on it and I will provide a link to it at the end of this post .

The vast majority of Christians, and sadly even many Ministers of the Gospel of Christ simply concede the modern western world’s notion that slavery is ALWAYS immoral. The other concession they make which is even worse is that God tolerated or even regulated an activity (slavery) that he believed was sinful. What these believers are doing is actually accusing God of overlooking sin.

Whenever I hear Christians saying God overlooked the supposed sins of slavery and polygamy this passage of Scripture comes to mind:

“The Rock! His work is perfect,
For all His ways are just;
A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He.” – Deuteronomy 32:4 (NASB)

The God I worship who gave commands that allowed for the practices of slavery and polygamy is just and righteous in all he commands.

If we say that God’s commands allowing polygamy and slavery were anything less than just and right – then we open the door to say that anything other commands in Scripture can be dismissed “sins God chose to overlook”.

Some Christians who reject any type of inequality – be it social or economic and especially Biblical inequalities between men and women – will say things like this:

“God always hated the sin of inequality in any sphere it appeared in society, but he wanted to reveal his will on these issues slowly and not turn society upside down by trying to explicitly take on on the “sin of inequality” that existed in practices like marriage,polygamy,slavery and capitalism.”

If we as Bible believing Christians surrender on issues like slavery and polygamy, and concede that they were sins God just “overlooked”, then we are at the same time surrendering the inerrancy of the Scriptures and the justice and righteousness of God in everything he commands.

But I understand that as a believer – you may need a little more than my word on this. So we will look at what the Bible says about slavery and also compare and contrast that with slavery as it was practiced in the United States.

One type of slavery is still constitutional in the United States

Before we get into what the Bible says about slavery I wanted to point to an interesting fact that most Americans are completely unaware of. Believe it or not, the United States still allows slavery.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution passed in 1865 gives this exception to our prohibition of slavery:

“neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”

When a person is sentenced to life with hard labor for a crime they commit – that is a form of slavery. There are still some prisons that have forced labor, but it is not as widespread as it once was.

I actually believe this remaining form of slavery should be expanded in the United States. Imagine if every car thief, every drug dealer and especially those white collar criminals all knew they were going to have to do hard labor during their sentences instead of just being confined to a cell and given time in a yard with three meals a day?

This could bring down crime rates as well as help with the costs of prisons.

Does the Bible actually allow slavery or is it just silent on the issue?

The Bible not only allows the practice of slavery but it also regulates slavery in the laws that Moses gave to the nation of Israel. There are two primary passages in Mose’s Law that give us God’s regulations for how slavery could be morally practiced.

“If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee. He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers. For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God. As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession. You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another. – Leviticus 25:39-46 (NASB)

“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently. “If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do. If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his unfairness to her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.” – Exodus 21:2-11 (NASB)

So it’s pretty clear in Moses’ Law that God not only allowed slavery, he regulated it. Slaves from pagan nations were automatically regarded as permanent property, and could actually be left as an inheritance to the children of their Hebrew slave owners.

But neither male or female Hebrew indentured servants could be kept permanently. We see that in this passage the following passage:

“12 “If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free.13 When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.14 You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you.”

Deuteronomy 15:12-14 (NASB)

The difference between male and female Hebrew indentured servants was that the woman had to be “redeemed“(Exodus 21:8) which is a reference to either her parents, brother or other male relative buying her back or another man purchasing her as a wife for himself. But it is clear that God did not want Hebrew women being permanently kept as indentured servants but wanted them to have the opportunity to become wives and mothers. So if the man did not want her for himself or one of his sons he had to allow her to be redeemed.

If a man bought a woman and gave her to his son he had treat her with the full rights of a daughter, and his son had to give her the full rights of a wife.

Biblical Rules for proper treatment of human property

“but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.” – Exodus 20:10(NASB)

“If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property… “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye. And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.” – Exodus 21:20 -21 & 26-27 (NASB)

“Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.” – Colossians 4:1 (NASB)

Slaves were to be treated fairly and justly by their masters. They were to be given rest one day a week when the rest of the family rested and they were able to participate in the various festivals. They were not allowed to be physically abused or murdered.

Does the New Testament maintain slavery or get rid of it?

The New Testament maintains slavery as an acceptable practice before God, provided that slaves were treated justly and fairly.

Some Christians have tried to say that the Apostles and especially Paul wanted to abolish slavery because of an issue with a runaway slave. Paul wrote a letter to a Christian slave owner named Philemon. Paul had mentored a man name Onesimus who became a believer in Christ. He did mission work with Paul and was “useful” to Paul . But at some point Onesimus revealed that he was a runaway slave and Paul sent him back to Philemon with this exhortation:

“I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account;” – Philemon 1:10-18(NASB)

Some Christians point to this phrase “that you would have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave” to say Paul was commanding Philemon to free this slave, and by extension was against slavery and wanted him and all other Christian slave masters to free their slaves. But again whenever we look at a topic in Scripture, we have to look at everything written on that topic and not just one passage before we can truly understand God’s position on an issue.

Paul addresses Christian slave owners in these passages:

“All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles.” – I Timothy 6:1-3 (NASB)

“Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.” – Colossians 3:22 – 4:1 (NASB)

“Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.” – Ephesians 6:5-9(NASB)

If Paul was against Christians owning slaves – he would have clearly said so. He had every opportunity to tell at least Christian slave owners that they should free their slaves and stop using slavery in their businesses. Instead Paul exhorts Masters to treat their slaves with justice and fairness, and if they are believers to treat them as brothers in Christ even though they are still slaves. Some have said that Paul did not want to impede the Gospel by taking on slavery. But this idea reduces the Pauline epistles to mere human letters – when in fact they were divinely inspired by God. Remember what we said previously – every command of God is just and right and Paul was giving us God’s commands regarding slaves and their masters. If God had changed his mind about slavery from the law that he gave Moses, he would have said so through his Apostles, but he did not.

Paul tells slaves if they can be free, then be free but if they cannot they need to accept their condition as slaves:

“Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that.For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave.” -1 Corinthians 7:21-22(NASB)

The Apostle Peter weighed in on slavery to when he told slaves they needed to submit even to Masters who were cruel.

“Household slaves, submit with all fear to your masters, not only to the good and gentle but also to the cruel.” I Peter 2:18 (HCSB)

It is interesting in each of Paul’s exhortations to slaves, he always starts off with the slave needing to respect and obey their masters and then he goes to telling the masters to treat their slaves fairly. He also does the same thing when he speaks to wives and husbands. He starts off telling wives to submit to their husbands and then ends telling husbands to treat their wives kindly. The principle Paul was giving us under the inspiration of God was – our respect and obedience to our authorities is not dependent on how they treat us, but rather our obedience is to our authorities is based on our obedience to God.

I believe the New Testament Scriptures are clear – God did not get rid of slavery but simply made sure that Masters treated theirs slaves fairly and that slaves knew they needed to obey their masters.

Based upon the passages cited above, as well as other passages and principles of the Bible the test of whether a particular practice of slavery is moral is answered by the two sets of questions:

The First morality test of Slavery – How did the slave come to be owned by their master?

Did they voluntarily give themselves as a slave in exchange for protection and economic security?

Were they born from slave parents?

Were they sold as a slave by their father?

Did they voluntarily sell themselves to pay off debtors?

Were they forced into servitude by governing authorities either because of debts they owed or because of a crime they committed?

Were they captured as a prisoner of a just war?

Were they kidnapped and forced to be a slave?

Biblically speaking, if a person were to answer yes to any of the first six questions, then the way that they became a slave was not wrong. If however the person was kidnapped and forced into slavery, then this type of slavery would be immoral and wrong.

The Second morality test of Slavery – How is the slave being treated by their master?

Are food, clothing and shelter being provided to the slave?

Is the slave being treated justly and fairly?

Is the slave being given proper rest?

Is the slave not being physically abused?

If the answer to all these questions is yes regarding the treatment of slaves in a particular situation then this instance of slavery would be moral – Biblically speaking.

Comparing American Slavery to Biblical Slavery

As Americans we see the practice of slavery through the eyes of African Americans and how their ancestors were treated here in America. But we need to understand that the practice of slavery here in America was nothing like the slavery that God allowed and regulated in the Bible.

Before the modern era, people often had to choose between personal liberty and economic security in most cultures around the world.

For instance in Biblical times it was not uncommon for a father to have to sell one or more his children as slaves to a wealthier family. This served two purposes – it would ensure that his children would be feed and cared for and often times it would help to pull his own family out of poverty because of the money he would receive in return.

Other times young men who had lost their entire families and lived in poverty on the street might sell themselves to wealthy man in order to have food, clothing and protection guaranteed.

Another thing is the image we have of slaves. We have in our mind men, women and children in chains and rags working their hands to the bone each day. The truth is that in many instances in ancient Israel you might have had trouble distinguishing who in the household was a slave and who were family members.

On the other hand, the slavery in practice in America was completely different than the slavery that was allowed by the Bible. Chains were a very a common occurrence with slavery in America. It was based on the false ideology that one race was less human than others and they could be enslaved if for no other reason than their race.

The Bible dispels such a notion about slaves being less human than their masters:

“If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves When they filed a complaint against me, What then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him?

“Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb? – Job 31:13-15(NASB)

Job was clear that God made his slaves in their mother’s wombs just as he was made in his mother’s womb.

No person is less human than another, and no one deserves to be enslaved simply because of their race.

Besides American slavery being based on race – it massively failed the two tests of Biblical Slavery that I mentioned above. Africans were kidnapped from their homes. They were treated worse than animals and loaded on to ships without proper food, clothing and shelter. Many Africans died while on Ships coming to America. Many African women were raped by their owners, instead being given the full status of wives. They were often physically abused and even sometimes murdered. But because they were not considered fully human, no punishments were given.

Even in some American homes where slaves were treated more humanely – the origin of how they were brought here was tainted. Their parents did not nothing deserving to be enslaved, they were the product of kidnapping.

So here is the summary in regard to American slavery. The simple fact of one man enslaving another is not in and of itself an immoral act. The act of enslaving a person is not synonymous with treating that person as less than human if the enslavement occurs under just conditions as we noted earlier.

For instance prisoners being made into slave labors is not unjust and it is not treating them as a less than human by essentially turning them into a slave workforce.

But what the Bible did not allow in regard to slavery was simply kidnapping people and enslaving them based on their race. This was a violation of Biblical human rights and this was the first reason American slavery was evil and wrong.

The second reason American slavery was wrong was the treatment of blacks after they were enslaved. They were not just enslaved wrongly but in many cases they were treated more harshly than their owners treated their horses or their livestock. This is why American slavery was evil and nothing like the slavery God allowed in the civil laws of Israel.

Was America wrong for outlawing slavery?

The Bible does not command that anyone must have slaves. It only allows slavery under certain conditions and then it stipulates what is considered fair and humane treatment for slaves.

I believe abolitionists were right in convincing Americans to end slavery (except for criminals as I mentioned previously) but as I have shown here in this post – I don’t believe all instances of slavery are immoral. However the slavery that was practiced here in America – both in how the slaves were acquired, and how they were treated as less than human was in fact immoral.

How should Christians respond to attacks on the Bible over the issue of slavery?

First know where the attacks on Biblical slavery will come.

Attack #1 against Slavery

“All instances of slavery abuses people and treats people as less than human, therefore slavery is immoral.”

Wrong – American slavery, and slavery practiced outside of Israel may have treated slaves as less than human and it was therefore immoral. But in Israel slaves were guaranteed certain human rights that God commanded.

Attack #2 against Slavery

“Even if Israel treated their slaves more kindly they still were treated as less than human because they did not have equal rights and were not free. All adult humans must have equal rights including full autonomy.”

Wrong – God is the one who grants our rights and while he has guaranteed certain human rights to all – he did not guarantee an equal amount of rights to all. It is not immoral, or treating someone as less than human to give some people more rights than others if we are following God’s Law in doing so.

I promised at the beginning of this post to give you the link to my series on Biblical Polygamy as this and slavery are often used together to attack Biblical morality.

What they agree on is that some people, by their very nature, were born inferior and ought to be ruled over by the ones who were born superior. It’s taken different forms, it’s the same thing with different wrapping paper be it conquerors / conquered or white / black. It’s a pernicious evil that human nature will always distort in a secular context and be irredeemable in a spiritual context.

It still exists, even after these thousands of years. It’s said that more slaves exist now than they did back then, and they most certainly do not live under the Biblical version of it now. If one were to apply the New Testament household codes, then the institution of slavery would have been destroyed from the inside out. You see, people own inferiors, not equals.

When Paul reminded the masters that they too, were slaves, he was putting them on the same level as slaves. Paul was doing the same thing with husbands and wives, putting them on the same level. Making them equals. Slavery is gone. It was never meant to be an industry or economic foundation for a society. It’s not the only thing that’s gone.

In almost every Biblical story of a polygamous household, there’s dissension and strife as if to say that it’s not the ideal but describes what happened way back then over there. Isn’t that mutually exclusive with the ‘one man / one woman creation mandate’ stance, anyway? They can’t both be true. The NT says that leaders in the church must be a “one woman man” in other words, not be polygamous. Sounds like the foundation for monogamy as the rule to me.

Biblical slavery has NOTHING to do with some people being less human or more human. It really does not have to do with some people being inferior or other superior.

What it has to do with is position.

There those who govern(kings, national leaders) and there are those who are governed. There are masters and there slaves. There are husbands and there are wives. There parents and there are children.
All of these people, the governors, the governed, masters, slaves, husbands, wives and children are all equally human and there is no human being that is more human than another.

But the Bible is clear that we must respect the position we are in. Yes it reminds master that they and their slaves are both servants of Christ, but it still tells slaves to obey and reference their masters. Both a husband and wife are “join heirs” in Christ – but they are not equal in their positions within marriage. God continually calls on a wife to submit to, obey and reverence her husband. We are commanded to obey and respect those in in authority in Government as long as they don’t ask us to go against God’s commands.

Was there some jealousy by wives in some polygamous relationships? Yes. But was there not also jealously by son’s of their father’s love as well?(i.e Joseph and his brothers) The wives who were jealous of their husbands sinned just as Joseph’s brother’s sinned in being jealous of their father’s love. I am don’t know what you are alluding to with the one man/one woman creation mandate? If you mean do I believe marriage is between a man and a woman – yes I do. But when a man is polygynous he has a separate marriage with each woman, so each of his relationships with each one of his wives is a relationship of one man with one woman.

But from the other angle – some try to argue that since God created only one wife for Adam then monogamy was his design. But my response to that reasoning is – did God create incest(brothers and sisters marrying) as the model of marriage that he wanted as well? Because Adam and Eve’s son’s and daughters had to marry one another to make the first human beings.

The New Testament’s “husband of one wife” stipulation on church leaders could also be translated as “husband of his first wife” – meaning he has never been divorced.
In fact this same phrase is used of woman being put on the widows list in the church(where she would serve the church and be supported by the church):
“Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man.” Since we know that polyandry(women having multiple husband’s was unheard of in the Roman empire) that could not have been what Paul was addressing. So I maintain that when Paul said the husband of one wife – it means he was still the husband of his first wife and had never been divorced. But even if he was disallowing polygamy for Church leaders, that would not be making this the policy for all church members or he would have clearly said so. In fact in the Old Testament Priests had stricter marriage rules than normal population(they could not marry widows or any woman that was not a virgin).

Jesus undermined ‘position’ with every opportunity that presented itself. He would interact with women when the Pharisees would not. He was known to be a friend of tax collectors and prostitutes for which the Pharisees condemned him. If Christianity was all about position, then would he not have focused his ministry to the Pharisees and Saducees who had the authority to share religious teachings because of their position? Our great example denied his own position to show us what humility looks like in action.

Humans just don’t have the capacity to ‘biblically’ own slaves or ‘biblically’ be slaves. Human nature tends to make for harsh masters and lazy or hate-filled slaves. For the same reason, men lack the ability to “biblically” lead their wives and women aren’t able to “biblically” submit – which is why the Christian church has such a terrible problem with domestic violence. People in positions of power are often corrupted by it – in politics, in church, and in homes, after all: “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Most complementarians teach that the creation mandate is that marriage is between one man and one woman and the man has authority over the woman. They often portray it as such: “God > Christ > Man > Woman”. or “God > Christ > Husband > Wife” they do not believe in or affirm polygamy or incest, but they do believe in this creation mandate because they say that it applies to all cultures. The problem with polygamy and incest and slavery and patriarchy is that God tolerated these things thousands of years ago on the other side of the world because that’s what the ancient world was. The modern world is none of those things. As I pointed out, the very act of owning another person is illegal in this country no matter how biblical it is. Using slavery to prove gender roles is a no-win argument.

To gain a more nearly complete picture of slavery in England and in British America, the enslavement of several million Irish broadens the perspective.
Over the years I have met Blacks who spoke of their Irish ancestry. A popular practice was to take young Irish slave girls and breed them with the best big, strong Black men to produce light skinned, wavy-haired Mulatto men and women. They were preferred by many slaveholders for house slaves, butlers, coachmen, maids and concubines. They lived in the masters’ houses. The really dark Blacks were assigned agricultural work and lived in small huts. The house slaves lived under the threat of being transferred to the field slave gang if they displeased the master or his wife.
Many of the half-, three-quarters, seven-eighths Irish, Scottish and Saxon slaves, despite their privileged status, escaped to where they were not known and “crossed,” becoming White. The lighter and less negroid-appearing, the more likely they were to run off.
The children of Mulatto, Quadroon, Octoroon and lesser degree of negroid were slaves like their mothers. The wives of slaveholders were often angered by the sight of their husbands’ bastard slave children and were sometimes very cruel to their mothers, as if the girls had any choice in the matter.
Many of these children “crossed” when they grew up. This wouldn’t be possible today as almost everyone is birth-certificated and social security-numbered. We are state slaves; our labor belongs to our master, the state, to whatever degree the state decrees.

It is not sinful for a Christian to buy a slave in a nation where slavery is both legal and customary. But if he is not a CINO (Christian In Name Only), he will not use force to hold the slave. If the slave doesn’t like being a slave, s/he can walk off. The Christian will not let the slave go out empty-handed, either, but will prosper him or her. — Deuteronomy 15:13, 14
Many slaveholders who behaved as Christians would set their slaves up in business. It was common to give them their “papers” – their manumission or freedom papers – to put away for the day they wanted to be free.
Christianity in countries that had slavery benefited the slaves. And Christianity eventually influenced governments to abolish slavery. Read the story of William Wilberforce and his lifelong crusade against slavery and the slave trade. He was a Member of Parliament. He, and his supporters, first got slavery abolished in the British Isles and then, at the end of his life, in the British Empire. Slavery had been endemic in the countries that became British colonies. Britain was able to abolish slavery in them.